ProjectSummary It is well-established that there are significantly higher mortality rates for a number of cancers in African AmericansandotherracialandethnicminoritiesintheUS.Despiteoverallreductionsincancermortalityinthe last several decades, these disparities persist. The lack of appropriate models has been a serious issue in addressing these cancer health disparities. This Core is a collaboration between Baylor College of Medicine (BCM)andMDAndersonCancerCenter(MDACC).ThePDXCorewillrecruitminoritypatientswithcancerat BCMclinicalsitestodonatebloodforcirculatingtumorcells(CTCs)orcancertissuesforestablishmentofpatient derivedxenografts(PDXs).ThemajorfocuswillbeonAfricanAmerican(AA)menwithprostatecancer(PC).Dr NavoneatMDACChasaunique,provenexpertiseinestablishingPDXsfromPCCTCsandtissuesandshewill establishthePCPDXsinherlaboratory.ThesewillbetransferredtotheBCMsiteofthePDXCoreforadditional characterization,transfertotheNCIPDTCPDXRepositoryandforexperimentsaspartofResearchProject1 inthisU54submission.AsecondarygoalofthePDXCorewillbetoestablishPDXsfromminoritypatientsat BCM clinical sites other than PC or breast cancer (BC), with a focus on cancers disparately affecting minority populations.ThiswillbedoneattheBCMPDXCore.Afterestablishment,thesewillbetransferredtoNCIPDTC PDXRepositorytoenhanceminorityPDXrepresentationinthisrepository.Thethirdgoalwillbetosetupbreast cancer(BC)PDXsforexperimentsinResearchProject2.ThesewillbereceivedfromDrs.LewisandEllishere atBCMfromtheirexistingPDXsaswellasnewPDXsgeneratedoverthecourseofthisproposal.TheBCPDX establishmenteffortisseparatelyfundedandnoadditionalBCPDXswillbegeneratedbythisPDXCore.Finally, infutureyearswewillparticipateasrequestedinnewtransnetworkinitiativesandpilotprojects.